Edward M. Kennedy: “I certainly hope there will be overwhelming support for this program. Not only did we accept this on our last education…”

“I certainly hope there will be overwhelming support for this program. Not only did we accept this on our last education bill, but we were able to maintain it in the conference as well. We certainly hope we will be able to do so in this conference as well. I just wanted to follow up on my comments from earlier this morning about some of the aspects of this legislation, some of the experiences that have taken place in a number of schools in different parts of the country, and why we are very hopeful this legislation will have, really, a far-reaching impact in strengthening the academic achievement of young people in this country. I would like to come back to one of the important--essential--aspects of this legislation, and that is the focus we give to the teachers in our schools.”